Best Cloud Backup in Canada 2018

What does Canada have apart from a very handsome Prime Minister? Freedom from the NSA. When the NSA spying incident became public knowledge, the Canadian government offered U.S. tech giants, like Facebook and Google, a place to store their data in Canada.

The truth is – if you had a choice between the U.S. or Canada when it comes to cloud storage, I would honestly recommend choosing Canada.

Why? Well, we’ve recently been working on a series exploring cloud storage companies, laws, and security in the country of Maple syrup. And so far, it’s proven to be a safer place for data, that comes with all the bells and whistles that American cloud storage has.

Many large enterprises already have their data centers in Canada, along with some effective cloud backup services.

Alongside featuring the technical capabilities available to their American counterparts, Canadian cloud storage services don’t have to deal with the NSA and its issues. So we’re going to introduce you to the top five best cloud backup services in Canada.

How This Article is Setup

Before we start the show, let’s take a moment to understand what this article is about and how it’s setup. What we have here are five mini-reviews, or more accurately, summaries, of each cloud backup service. Full, in-depth reviews are linked next to each service, under the “Read review” button.

I highly recommend checking out Cloudwards’ full reviews, before making any final purchasing decision. Then we’ve got summaries of what we liked about each service, followed by a short pros and cons list. With that tad bit out of the way, let’s start the show!

Sync.com

Marketed as a Dropbox alternative and a file sharing and syncing service, Sync.com can also be used as a cloud backup service — plus it’s natively Canadian.I would highly recommend Sync.com not only for private users but also for business users, who need a cloud service which has both backup and syncing.

Sync has a separate folder, called the ‘Vault,’ where all files that are to be backed up are kept, and they can then get directly uploaded from the desktop or web apps. Though with the web app, you won’t get any extra features apart from uploading and downloading.

But the desktop app is deeply embedded with Windows OS, just like Dropbox, however keep in mind that the Vault folder is not accessible on the desktop app. You have to open the web app for it. But, the good news is that you can move files directly from the sync folder to the Vault.

Other Reasons Why We Like Sync.com

Sync.com gives 5GB of free storage to all users, and there is no time limit on that — it’s the free plan. Security is a major selling point for Sync.com since it’s a zero-knowledge platform.

A user can select from robust and anonymous encryption options, and there’s 256-bit encryption both on local machines and servers.

CrashPlan

CrashPlan is all about flexibility, an array of features and several customization options. Its desktop app is available for Windows, Mac and Linux.

CrashPlan’s best feature is its ability to control and fine-tune backups completely, and include or exclude certain file types while selecting backup timings. Users can even choose what memory use percentage should stop backups. There is also no limit on file sizes, and CrashPlan provides unlimited versioning to boot.

Data gets encrypted on a local machine even before its uploaded. And nobody can access data without an encryption key, and data stays encrypted until it’s downloaded from CrashPlan’s servers.

With so many options, things can get rather confusing for beginners or for people looking at a set-and-forget kind of deal. If you want something more intuitive and beginner-friendly, I recommend checking out the other options on this list.

Other Reasons Why We Like CrashPlan

CrashPlan is amongst the major cloud backup services,because of its reliability and affordability. For just $5 per month, you get unlimited storage.

There are no hidden charges; you get what you pay for. Plus it can create multiple backups for various destinations like a remote computer, external HDD, NAS and of course, the cloud, which is called CrashPlan Central.

IDrive

With 5GB of free space, IDrive provides both cloud backup and file syncing. It also features an HDD shipping service to facilitate offline backup too.

I loved the fact that IDrive integrates into the same folder structure as your primary drive, which is very helpful when it comes to restoring an entire backup. The app has a separate restoration section, from where a user can directly choose their destination.

As I mentioned, file syncing is present and users can choose any folder on their hard drive as a syncing folder, but you’ll need a premium plan subscription for the feature to work. If there is one thing missing from IDrive, it would have to be an unlimited storage option, as the highest plan available is for 10TB only.

Other Reasons Why We Like IDrive

Cloud backup is the major feature of this service, and it provides file syncing as an extra. There is a separate section for scheduling backups where you can decide exactly when backups get done.

As soon as the desktop app starts, IDrive will suggest default folders for uploading, but you can customize the selection as well. Though there is a file sharing option, it takes you to IDrive’s website, and data can’t be shared from the desktop app.

Backblaze

Confused by the overwhelming options and features cloud backup services have? Then Backblaze is the perfect service for you. It’s also cheap and truly unlimited.

Backblaze’s primary motive is to simplify the entire backup process for users, from selecting what to backup, to deciding a restoration strategy. In fact, this cloud service takes simplicity so seriously; it only has two paid plans – monthly and yearly.

As soon as Backblaze gets installed, it starts scanning a hard drive and automatically uploads folders from the drive. You can’t decide what to upload or what not to, it’s not your decision.

Other Reasons Why We Like Backblaze

I’ve tested a lot of cloud backup apps, and I am proud to say that Backblaze has spammed me the least with emails. Apart from all the mentioned features, it also has bandwidth throttling, scheduling, continuous backup and security passphrase

Backblaze is a highly automated cloud backup service, which handles everything on its own in the background, like a butler. It’s so simplified that you don’t even have to manually check if it’s backing up data.

Carbonite

Despite being an American cloud backup service, Carbonite has data centers in Canada. For $59.99 per year, you’re guaranteed good speeds and decent features. Installing Carbonite’s desktop app is easy, though I did notice the Mac desktop client doesn’t have as many features as the Windows one.

Carbonite finds a way to balance everything. When installed, Carbonite gives two options – automatic upload or manual upload, where you can select what to backup. Though remember, when choosing automatic upload, all video data and files over 4GB in size will not get uploaded.

Other Reasons Why We Like Carbonite

Carbonite users can also set private encryption keys, and the company also provides 128-bit Blowfish encryption. Better yet, file versioning is available. And the service is suited for small business users as well.

Unlike Backblaze, Carbonite does provide more flexibility and options. You can choose what to backup and when to backup, but it doesn’t have so many options that things get confusing.

Conclusion

Using a cloud backup service located in Canada is much better than using a backup service with data centers in the United States. In fact, you might be surprised to know how many U.S. companies have their data centers in Canada. But if security is truly important, make sure that your data is encrypted, even before it gets uploaded to the cloud, and use robust passwords.

All of the top five cloud backup services in Canada have a free plan or trial period available, and I recommend taking advantage of them. For the sake of test driving the cloud backup service, before putting down some hard cash for its full features. Do you have any thoughts or ideas to share with us? Feel free to express them in the comments section below.